Lloyd Allen
Lloyd Allen is a major figure in Shaperaverse. He is a Post-Human who made the most impact on the ''New Albion Tetralogy'', as featured in ''The New Albion Radio Hour'', A Dieselpunk Opera. Lloyd Allen's story debuted in The Fallen but it quickly expanded and he appeared in other albums, the collection of short stories, Lost Fables From New Albion and Astonishing Tales of the Highly Improbable. Early Years Lloyd Allen was born to a Professor and his wife an unknown amount of time ago. Professor Allen was a cold and analytical man, whereas Mrs. Allen was somewhat more dramatic. Mrs. Allen always bothered Professor Allen to spend time with their son, but little came of it. This didn't get any better once Mrs. Allen left when Lloyd was still very young. The only way Lloyd and his father really connected was over the game of chess, which Professor Allen never let Lloyd win. So when, at 7, Lloyd beat his father, Professor Allen thought it was that he was tired, but by the time he was 8, Lloyd appeared to be a child prodigy in the game. Soon after, Lloyd was sent to an academy that was designed to be a primer for the Pro Chess Circuit. Lloyd was happy and comfortable among his fellow chess nerds, and he was the best player they had. Lloyd had little contact with his father after that. Soon, after having won many tournaments, Lloyd grew bored, and started using his moves to spell out letters, such as "F", and "U". The club kept him, as he was the best, and had him mentor other players, but he soon grew bored with that after he met Matt, the star of the Drama program. Soon after, Lloyd left the chess club and became stage manager for the Drama department, a role he fit into very well. Soon after, Lloyd became the subject of interest for a local Death Cult, under the influence of one of the Lost Post-Humans. Though the intent was merely to force Lloyd to flower, the Death Cult attempted to murder Lloyd multiple times before they got to Matt, and sent Lloyd a piece of his finger. Not much is known what happened after that. Records show that Lloyd went back to the theater, luring the cult to follow him. None of the cultists made it out alive. Eventually, Lloyd created his Playhouse, a place for other Post-Humans to begin their flowering. At some point here, Lloyd met the young David Adams, who had already had an encounter with the mythical being Terryan and began his flowering and his transformation into Raven. Records suggest that despite already being a fully flowered Post-Human, Lloyd Allen was not at all as experienced as he appeared. The Second Playhouse Lloyd and Raven fell in love and after a lot of traveling moved on to build The Second Playhouse. This is featured in Caravan, the third part of the The Adams Arc, where Kate's flowering is depicted. Those records that do exist do not indicate much on the Caravan broadcast. It is still unknown if it were a single broadcast or a recursive loop as featured in The Ballad of Lost Hollow. The Second Playhouse arguably had the single purpose of pushing the suspected Post-Humans over the line and into flowering. Even though some still argue that this was not the sole purpose of the Playhouse. Only a select few ever managed to flower there, most of the performers were presumably broken under the pressure of the audience, whose purpose was to aggressively pressure the Post-Humans into flowering. The Search For Elysium Many were interested in inter-dimension travel at the time. However, Lloyd Allen was able to actually do so. He was very much interested in breaking into one of the pocket realities of Elysium and firmly believed he could do it well based on his Post-Human skills. Lloyd had a secret agenda of his own for this journey. He knew of Raven's daughter, Son-Mi, who was trapped there. Lloyd Allen and Raven split their paths and Lloyd went on to break into the pocket reality. It would later be revealed that Lloyd succeeded in his attempt to retrieve Raven's daughter, but at a cost. Lloyd Allen lost his life on that journey, and his soul was later conjured from the afterlife and trapped inside a doll. Upon his return to the mortal coil, Lloyd was stuck in New Albion - a fact he utterly hated. Astonishing Tales of the Highly Improbable Lloyd could not find Raven's Carnival. He was still stuck in New Albion, so he decided to put his narrating abilities to good use and take a job with the broadcaster in New Albion. There, Lloyd narrated a radio show, starring Pablo Shaeper (as he introduced him). He was not at all professional and would argue over the ads he had to read on air as well as digress into talking about his past. However, his charming persona as well as the state of the station secured him the job. Lloyd uses a good deal of air time to reminisce of Raven. Astonishing Tales were broadcast just after the first year of what was starting to look like a civil war. At one point, Lloyd sends Jacquelyn O'Brien to the Monastery in the Western Mountains hoping this would help him find his way out of New Albion. The New Albion Radio Hour Nine years later, Lloyd Allen is still in New Albion. His mission apparently failed and he is now narrating the story of the final battle of the all-out civil war in New Albion. He heavily influences the events of The Battle of Crier's Boulevard to suit his need for a dramatic story, an epic tragedy. He pushes all the pieces in place and the whole city nearly falls as the Voodoopunks broadcast their songs of the dead into the government's soldiers' helmets. The song spreads through New Albion like a virus, but Constance O'Brien showcases some abilities of her own when Jackie changes the narrative. Outraged, Lloyd gives in and lets Jackie reverse the viral song that was unleashed, but he decides to kill Constance in return. This is prevented by John and Jackie sacrificing themselves to save Constance, who flees the battle. Return to the Carnival Not a lot is known of Lloyd's journey after the events of The New Albion Radio Hour. He later finds Han-Mi, the grand-daughter of the little girl he went to retrieve, stuck in a never-ending recursive loop created by the AIs. Han-Mi helps Lloyd find his way to Raven's Carnival as she had been trapped there not too long before. Lloyd and Han-Mi hide in the Ferris Wheel at the Carnival. Raven finds them there just after he finishes broadcasting ''Uncle Raven's Storytime Theatre: Never Never Land''. At first sight, Raven sounds disgusted by Lloyd's appearance and does not recognize him, but Lloyd tells him it's him. Raven starts weeping but quickly notices Han-Mi, who he had briefly met when he trapped her in The Hall of Mirrors and recognized her as a Post-Human. Han-Mi reveals that she is his great-granddaughter. The Later Years Very little is known of Lloyd after he finds Raven. However, Raven does appear in The Forgotten Meme where he finds the Meme and places her in a love story narrative. The Forgotten Meme is narrated by Han-Mi, which implies either Raven or Lloyd Allen or both presumably trained Han-Mi, but that is up for some debate, as Han-Mi does not influence the story in any way, but simply tells it. Personality and Traits ] Lloyd Allen is a very skilled Post-Human. His abilities attracted a lot of attention from the AIs. His records were thoroughly researched but a lot of pieces of information are either missing or are kept secret. Lloyd is a vicious enemy if one dares stand in his way, but he is not unbeatable. This was proved in The New Albion Radio Hour, where Jackie actually discusses the story with Lloyd and makes him change it, then in spite of him, sacrifices herself to change the ending Lloyd had improvised. What is known well is that Lloyd Allen loved Raven more than anyone else. Raven remembers Lloyd in Uncle Raven's Super Happy Fun Time Carnival as the only man he ever truly loved. Lloyd and Raven's post-human archetypes are narratively bound to each other, as the "romantic pair" and the "straight man and the comic"-duo archetypes. As such, neither of them are complete without the other, and they will both suffer from being separated for too long. We can see this manifesting in how the two of them have both devolved into cruel, depressed characters by the time of ''The New Albion Radio Hour ''and ''Uncle Raven's Super Happy Fun Time Carnival ''respectively.